Be Grateful Even When it Hurts....

Life has a way of shaking us up and causing us to realize just how blessed we truly are. Whether it be a sickness, natural disaster, an emotional trial, or even a loss of a loved one, through these storms of life we

must learn to see them not only as pain filled moments of truth that we must face, but also we must rejoice in them and see these moments as the learning opportunities they truly are. Even through the hardest of storms in our lives we should take time to reflect and look a little closer to our reflection in the mirror. If we turn our attention to the "whys" we can and may learn so much that is valuable not only to us, but others as well. We see these storms as terrible inconveniences and we think often that they are a result of something we have done wrong. Oftentimes we find ourselves struggling to keep afloat on the oceans of life. We forget that these are moments of blessings not only trials. It is never easy facing these days that are so full of trouble and pain but if we learn to lean upon the one that hold us up (Lord Jesus), then we can see we are growing into so much more than we ever thought we could ever be. Pain helps us see past the temporal and helps us to realize that there is more to this life, not only the physical, but indeed the spiritual side of things matter. We go through the motions of repeated patterns, the ins and outs of the day through the race and rush of life and forget often to see it for what it is, a gift.

I've learned that when we are in the middle of one of these trials that we are being taught something of significance, although we do not usually see it at the time. A lot of times we find ourselves like the Israelites in the middle of the wilderness grumbling and complaining of our lack, our misery, and our whinny attitudes of pure vanity and selfish pride seem to get the best of us. I know I have been guilty often of these things many times over. I am not sure why it is that human nature tends to look and remember the worst of things and be so pessimistic. Maybe it is because we are human flesh and fallible because we are just that, human, full of sin, and full of faults. We are in need of direction, need of a savior, need of help to see ourselves as something worth more. We all should be grateful for each moment of each day. We are blessed to live in a free country and we have freedom to live free and there are so many liberties we take for granite. We can choose our place of worship. We can choose to go to worship or not. We choose our clothes, our friends, our jobs, our children, our food that we eat, our conversations, and friends. There are many choices we make daily. We choose to go through our lives not living for God, not knowing Jesus as savior, and willfully declining his gift of eternal life. We need never to forget that Jesus came to this world and died for us and rose again to life for us. He came to reconcile us back to God. Everything we do should be to grow closer to him and to be kingdom minded. Our treasures should be laid up in heaven not here below. We are all guilty of being materialistic and eager to do well in life. We want good careers, a nice home, and a family to enjoy. We are really blessed in all that we have. We must be grateful in everything we receive and all that we give. I do not want to ever be ungrateful. I teach my children to be grateful and be giving. There is always someone that has it worse than we do ourselves. We never know what the person sitting next to us is going through or what they are currently facing or have faced. It is best to treat everyone with love and kindness. Even when people are mean to you we still must remain kind and caring, loving them so they too may see the love of Jesus that shines through us to others. I have been guilty of not being the best me. I get agitated as we all do at times but we must accept our faults, repent, and go forward with the plans the Lord has called us to do. We must love others to Him. Everything we go through is for a reason. It is to help others going through the same thing. We must be an example to them that they too can get through it with love compassion hope and kindness from the encouragement of others, but most of all our savior, Jesus Christ. If you do not know him, won't you seek him today and ask him into your life, your heart, so you to may have life eternal. We must pray for one another because this is by no means an easy task but a very difficult one indeed.

Let us not forget the golden rule we were taught as children, " Treat others as you want to be treated. "

or Matthew 7:12 "...,Do to others as you would have them do to you,..." Love each of you always and until next time may the Lord keep you always and forevermore Anita Gaye <3